Democratic Union for Integration

Former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's VMRO-DPMNE party has having a 4-5 percent lead on social democrat SDSM of Zoran Zaev, first poll data shows.

The conservative party, which has been at the helm of Macedonia for ten years. has got 41.35%, with nearly a third of the vote counted.

An opinion poll published on Monday suggested that the gap between the main ruling VMRO DPMNE and the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM has significantly narrowed while the number of undecided voters who could determine the outcome of the December 11 election is still high.

Parties representing ethnic Albanians in Macedonia - about a quarter of the population - are campaigning on traditional ethnic issues in the December 11 elections, wooing voters with pledges to ensure greater use of the Albanian language and improve of the status of Albanians in the country.

The campaign for the upcoming snap parliamentary elections in Madedonia on December 11 has oficially begun on Monday, reported BGNES.

These will be the ninth parliamentary elections since the country declared independence in 1991. A total of 11 parties and coalitions will take part in the elections.

Macedonia's election campaign formally started on Monday and over the next 20 days the parties will be holding rallies and round tables and trying to visit as many places as they can.

An incident at the weekend when Ali Ahmeti, the head of the junior ruling Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, narrowly escaped an attack by an angry mob in the town of Kumanovo could be the beginning of an outburst of discontent among voters, observers suggested.

A recent opinion poll conducted in Macedonia suggests that the two old-established ethnic Albanian parties could face a serious challenge in the December 11 general elections.

An old mass grave, believed to date from the Second Balkan War, was discovered near the family house of Ali Ahmeti, the head of Macedonia’s junior ruling party, the Democratic Union for Integration.

Lawyers for 37 defendants accused of participating in the shootout with police that left 18 people dead in the northern Macedonian town of Kumanovo want a retired police general who is now head of the small opposition Dignity party, Stojance Angelov, and the head of the junior party in the country's ruling coalition, Democratic Union for Integration chief Ali Ahmeti, to appear as witnesses.

The legal changes failed to pass on Tuesday after only about 30 MPs in the 123-seat parliament, mainly from the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, voted in favour.